Why Katt Williams was scratched

Want to know the real reason you won't see Katt Williams hosting BET's Hip Hop Awards tonight? The comic pitched a serious hissy and walked off the show, according to insiders.

Williams claimed earlier this week that he turned over his hosting job to T-Pain after losing a break-dancing contest to the rapper.

Advertisement

But sources say he actually bailed after an angry face-off with BET execs before the show's taping in Atlanta last Saturday.

"Katt has become difficult now that he's a megastar," one source tells us. "He was very demanding during rehearsals. He really berated one female member of the production company. He launched into a verbal assault on her in front of other people. I mean, he read her the riot act.

"Then he left the set and said he wouldn't return unless she apologized. She wouldn't. BET and the production company backed her up. Katt wouldn't come back. Nobody was willing to budge.

"So the night before the show, they had no host. They were scrambling to find somebody. At 1 a.m., the night before the show, they called T-Pain. He agreed to do it, and started rehearsing the next morning for the show that evening."

In the interest of future relations with Williams, executive producer Stephen Hill agreed to the break-dancing cover story, according to sources.

"It was crazy," Hill told BET.com. "We were all out at the club Friday night - T-Pain, Katt Williams, an Emmanuel Lewis impersonator and me - fluids flowing, music all loud. Suddenly Pain, having bought us some drinks, challenged Katt to a break-dancing battle."

Playing along, Pain told the Web site: "Folks have underestimated me for years. In rapping, in singing ... and now in break dancing!"

Williams claimed, "I've had a great time hosting the show for the last two years. [I] was looking forward to hosting this year. I never thought T-Pain would win a break-dancing battle with me."

A BET rep declined further comment. A publicist for Williams, who plays Carnegie Hall on Nov. 6, didn't return a call.